What if walking was enough to map the interior of a complete building? This is now possible with the “MID”, the portable indoor mapping system developed by VIAmetris. This system, which you held with your hands, integrates a 2D LiDAR, a camera, an AHRS, and a tablet PC that shows the map being drawn while the user walks into the building.

Breakthrough Innovation for easy and quick indoor Mapping

While the user walks, the 2D LiDAR scans the room in a horizontal plane by measuring 43,000 points per second in a 270° field of view. The SLAM technology builds progressively the map in the shape of lines made of points. At the office, the surveyor imports the data into the post-processing software. He just has to draw over the lines of points to design the map. If any doubt occurs on a specific shape, whether it is actually the wall or furniture for example, a photo of the room is available in one click into the software. Indeed, the MID takes contextual pictures either every meter, at every change of direction, or manually. The centimeter-level accurate map is then ready to be imported in all CAD software. As the system works without GPS, the generated map is not located on earth nor in a local coordinates reference system. To do so, the user just has to link the MID’s points cloud to a known point and all data will be automatically recalculated. Easier to use than a laser distance meter, a tacheometer, or a 3D scanner, the MID exceptionally reduces the execution time of indoor mapping.

An Innovative System Aided by a High Performance AHRS

As the equipment is held by the surveyor, it is never perfectly horizontal. Without an inertial sensor, the quality of the LiDAR data could be diminished. « We were searching for an industrial-grade inertial sensor; I knew I would find a high performance AHRS at SBG SYSTEMS » declares Mr. Ninot, CEO of VIAmetris. The selected sensor was the brand new AHRS “Ellipse-A”. The Ellipse-A integrates very low noise gyroscopes as well as filters and algorithms usually used in survey-grade inertial navigation systems. This miniature AHRS delivers a roll and pitch accuracy of 0.2°. It also provides a magnetic heading to orient the map to the North. This is especially useful when there are a lot of rooms to survey or when the survey is conducted for several days. To keep a robust heading, despite the natural magnetic disturbances created by the system, the AHRS embeds an advanced tool which allows calibration in real conditions. During the survey, Ellipse-A data is sent at a 200 Hz output rate to the internal computer and is synchronized with pictures and points clouds. « The Ellipse-A AHRS was very easy to integrate and the piece of advice delivered by the technical team helped us getting this solution very fast on the market, SBG SYSTEMS is the perfect partner for such integration» adds Mr. Ninot. Tested for three months by a surveying company, the MID is ready to enter the market.

MID and Ellipse-A Systems on Demonstration at Intergeo

Both SBG SYSTEMS’ Ellipse Series and VIAmetris’ MID will be presented for the first time to the surveying market at INTERGEO, Berlin, the world's leading trade show for geodesy, geoinformation and land management.

Founded in 2007, VIAmetris research and development team is specialized in image and signal processing, artificial intelligence, and robotics. After developing an expertise in the construction market with a mobile 3D survey, VIAmetris is now focused on designing 2D and 3D mobile indoor mapping systems combining precision and ease-of-use while reducing execution time.

About SBG Systems

SBG Systems is a leading supplier of MEMS-based inertial motion sensing solutions. The company provides a wide range of inertial solutions from miniature to high accuracy. Combined with cutting-edge calibration techniques and advanced embedded algorithms, SBG Systems products are ideal solutions for industrial & research projects such as unmanned vehicle control, antenna tracking, camera stabilization, and surveying applications.